Using a section of Allentown’s city charter that allows citizens to propose bills by petition, a committee of residents succeeded on a second try to submit petitions for a clean air ordinance. A city council committee will review the ordinance 6 p.m. Tuesday.

The ordinance would require around-the-clock monitoring of emissions from new waste burning facilities while capping the kinds of emissions that can cause illness, according to Energy Justice Network, a Philadelphia-based environmental advocacy organization.

Mike Ewall, director of Energy Justice Network, previously said the ordinance would ensure the plant is safe and clean or, more likely, result in its closure.

“I have no doubt that if we pass a reasonable clean air law, irresponsible companies like Delta Thermo will choose not to build their polluting experiment in the city,” Ewall said in a statement last week.

A first petition in March fell short by about 700 signatures, according to city Clerk Michael Hanlon. A second petition had about 3,000 signatures with the city determining there were at least 2,175 good signatures after weeding out people who were not registered or duplicates.

The ordinance would require real-time monitoring and disclosure of emissions and require that the emissions be kept at levels comparable to a natural-gas burning power plant, according to Rich Fegley, owner of the Allentown Brew Works and member of the petitioning group, Allentown Residents for Clean Air.

Fegley said during a council meeting earlier this month that the ordinance would apply only to new air polluting facilities and would not impact existing businesses in the community. But he said the issue with Delta Thermo would be different types and levels of pollutants.

“Every day, the content and quality of what is getting burned is going to change,” Fegley said.

Delta Thermo officials have said the process is clean, safe and results in emissions that more than meet federal requirements

Mayor Ed Pawlowski proposed the plan and said it will save the city tens of millions of dollars and avoid needing new landfill space. City council has already signed the contract and the plant would be regulated for pollution, the mayor said.

“The contract holds them to all state and federal emissions standards, which are extremely stringent,” Pawlowski said. "Delta Thermo will need to get permits and approval from both the EPA and DEP before they can begin operation.”

“This is innovative and cutting edge environmental technology designed to eliminate the need to landfill city trash, thus improving the environment and saving the city taxpayer for decades to come,” Pawlowski said “ It was for those reasons that the city explored and entertained alternative garbage disposal technologies."

In a process utilizing new technology, trash and sewage sludge delivered to the plant will be broken down with an industrial pressure cooker and converted to a coal-like substance that is burned to generate electricity. An estimated nine to 11 trucks of Allentown's solid waste and sewage will be hauled to the plant each day.

Energy Justice Network says the incinerator would be the company's first
and would be classified as an experimental facility that would allow
the operator to skirt state regulations.

In January, the Allentown Planning Commission awarded preliminary final approval to Delta Thermo Energy's land development plan.

Marcel Groen, attorney for Delta Thermo, previously said the company has not yet secured all of its financing, although it is not unusual in a project of this type for financing not to be finalized even after land development plans are approved.